Can Pay Won't Pay

Genre

Documentaries

Factual

Programme Id

b05v7tm6

Station

Radio 4

Duration

30 Minutes

Episodes

FirstBroadcast

Repeated

Comments

20150518

20150518

20150522 (R4)

'Defeating the French was critical' - taxes were often levied to fight wars against the French but this didn't mean that people always paid them.|All through history people have wanted to get one over on the tax man. Whether it was the peasants of the 14th century who hid their fellow villagers to avoid the Poll Tax, homeowners in the 18th century who promised their votes to those tax collectors who would turn a blind eye to the window tax or the rich money men of the 1970s who would pay clever accountants to construct shell companies to avoid income tax. It has created a headache for governments throughout the ages. Paul Lewis looks at what can history tell us about what is a fair rate of tax, what will bring in the most revenue and asks when did paying youtr taxes become a moral issue.

20150518

|All through history people have wanted to get one over on the tax man. Whether it was the peasants of the 14th century who hid their fellow villagers to avoid the Poll Tax, homeowners in the 18th century who promised their votes to those tax collectors who would turn a blind eye to the window tax or the rich money men of the 1970s who would pay clever accountants to construct shell companies to avoid income tax. It has created a headache for governments throughout the ages. Paul Lewis looks at what can history tell us about what is a fair rate of tax, what will bring in the most revenue and asks when did paying your taxes become a moral issue.

Episodes

FirstBroadcast

Repeated

Comments

20150518

20150518

20150522 (R4)

'Defeating the French was critical' - taxes were often levied to fight wars against the French but this didn't mean that people always paid them.|All through history people have wanted to get one over on the tax man. Whether it was the peasants of the 14th century who hid their fellow villagers to avoid the Poll Tax, homeowners in the 18th century who promised their votes to those tax collectors who would turn a blind eye to the window tax or the rich money men of the 1970s who would pay clever accountants to construct shell companies to avoid income tax. It has created a headache for governments throughout the ages. Paul Lewis looks at what can history tell us about what is a fair rate of tax, what will bring in the most revenue and asks when did paying youtr taxes become a moral issue.

20150518

|All through history people have wanted to get one over on the tax man. Whether it was the peasants of the 14th century who hid their fellow villagers to avoid the Poll Tax, homeowners in the 18th century who promised their votes to those tax collectors who would turn a blind eye to the window tax or the rich money men of the 1970s who would pay clever accountants to construct shell companies to avoid income tax. It has created a headache for governments throughout the ages. Paul Lewis looks at what can history tell us about what is a fair rate of tax, what will bring in the most revenue and asks when did paying your taxes become a moral issue.